The Most Tragic Details About The Married... With Children Cast

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The following article mentions addiction and eating disorders.

In the history of television, the 1980s and 1990s were peak decades for the family sitcom genre, producing iconic shows like "Full House," "Family Matters," and "Growing Pains." One of these long-running series particularly stood out for its edgier approach, irreverent characters, as well as the lack of heartwarming moments and cliché moral lessons: "Married... With Children." The story centers on the Bundy household, which includes Al (Ed O'Neill), a cynical and sexist shoe salesman, and his wife Peggy (Katey Sagal), a couch potato with poofy hair who love fashion and detests household chores. They have two children: the sexy and popular Kelly, as well as the witty and perpetually horny Bud (David Faustino), not to mention their sarcastic French sheepdog, Buck (replaced with Lucky in later seasons). Today, the cast of "Married... With Children" look drastically different from their characters, and the same goes for their experiences away from the screen.

Together, the series and its hilarious ensemble cast earned nominations for seven Primetime Emmy and seven Golden Globes. The sitcom also ran on Fox for a whopping 11 seasons, from 1987 until 1997. However, beyond the show's success and the characters' antics, which kept millions of viewers worldwide glued to their screens for 259 episodes, the cast members have experienced serious, life-changing hardships over the years. Let's revisit some of these rough and challenging moments.

Long before he was bestowed a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and awards for his portrayal of Jay Pritchett in "Modern Family," Ed O'Neill dreamed of a career in football. In fact, he played defensive lineman for the Youngstown State University Penguins and was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969. Sadly, he was let go during training camp, and, since his athletic aspirations were dismantled, he was forced to seek a different means to make a living. 

Broke and miserable, he met with an old friend back home who, like many of his connections, had ties to the mob. "He said, 'You can do this kind of stuff for me, you know, I'll protect you, I'll give you easy stuff. Just you collect here. You do that. You run, you drop something off here and there ... You can make some good money," O'Neill recalled on a 2024 episode of the "Dinner's on Me" podcast. As tempting as the offer was, O'Neill eventually heeded his father's warnings and moved to New York City, where he turned to acting. In between bussing tables, he managed to land minor theater roles until he was noticed by a casting agent, who asked him a year later to audition for "Married... With Children."

As a prolific actor and musician who is married to writer and producer Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal boasts a combined net worth of $40 million, per Celebrity Net Worth. She also earned various awards and nominations for her roles on "Married...With Children," "Sons of Anarchy," and "8 Simple Rules." Still, professional achievements aside, she has navigated substantial personal and health challenges throughout her life, starting with the early losses of her parents, Boris Sagal, a TV and film director, and Sara Zwilling (known on stage as Sarah Macon), a singer, assistant director, and former beauty queen. The latter died of heart disease in 1975, while her father, who later remarried, perished in a helicopter accident in 1981.

The actor chronicles her grief in her jaw-dropping 2017 memoir, "Grace Notes: My Recollections," where she also talks about her many years of addiction to pills and alcohol, not to mention her body image insecurities and her affair with KISS singer and bassist Gene Simmons. "My mother had been ill for a good part of my life," she told ABC News in March 2017. "It wasn't quite as big a shock as my father, whom I had literally spoken to the day before ... My way of dealing with things in the moment was to very much check out, was to kind of anesthetize myself, numb myself. It wasn't until I changed my lifestyle that I felt the full effect."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

The award-winning sitcom "8 Simple Rules," which aired on ABC from 2002 to 2005, centered on the Hennessy family: Paul (John Ritter), his wife Cate (Katey Sagal), and their three children, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), Kerry (Amy Davidson), and Rory (Martin Spanjers). Sadly, Ritter, a comedy actor whose most notable roles included "Three's Company," "Problem Child," and "Bad Santa," died on September 11, 2003, from a misdiagnosed acute thoracic aortic dissection, merely hours after collapsing on the set of "8 Simple Rules." He was on the verge of turning 55 and his brutal loss not only affected his wife, actor and author Amy Yasbeck, but also his fellow cast members. His character's death was subsequently written into the show, and the void was filled by James Garner as Jim Egan, Cate's father, and David Spade as C.J. Barnes, her freeloading nephew.

For her part, Sagal, who was on great terms with Ritter, testified at his wrongful death trial in Superior Court. She then portrayed Cate as a struggling single parent and widow on the show. "It was a family show," recalled Sagal on the Howard Stern Show in 2012. "Everybody was devastated, and it didn't feel right to end it immediately, and it didn't feel right to go on."

Katey Sagal has overcome several health challenges over the years that have also significantly impacted her emotional wellbeing. For instance, at age 28, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had to treat it with surgery. The actor wasn't able to perform for many months and, given that Sagal is more musical than most would think, she became deeply concerned that the operation had caused permanent damage to her voice.

Then, in October 1991, at age 37, a pregnant Sagal, who was dating musician Jack White at the time and still filming "Married... With Children," suffered a miscarriage and was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital. Her baby daughter was due in less than two months. "It was a very difficult thing, I lost a child at almost eight months and ... I could not wrap my brain around it ... And I just couldn't let go of the control of somehow, I had done something wrong," she recalled on "The View" in March 2017 (via the Daily Mail). Besides follow-up visits to the doctor, the actor also turned to psychic healers for comfort. Fortunately, she would later welcome three children with White and Kurt Sutter: Sarah Grace White, Jackson White, and Esmé Louise Sutter. Esmé was born through surrogacy following Sagal's failed in vitro fertilization. 

Additionally, the actor was once hit by a car while crossing the street in L.A. on October 14, 2021. She was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries and ultimately released that same day.

Besides her teenage fling with Gene Simmons, Katey Sagal hasn't publicly dated many celebrities, but she has been married four times. Going through three divorces, as well as learning to trust and date again, is generally a painful and sensitive process, especially when you're in the public eye and constantly scrutinized by the media.

Between 1977 and 1981, the "Futurama" star was married to Freddie Beckmeier, a songwriter and bassist associated with the groups Beckmeier Brothers, Full Moon, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Her second, less publicized union was to musician Fred Lombardo from 1986 to 1989. She then moved on with drummer and actor Jack White, who appeared on "Sons of Anarchy" and "Nashville." Their marriage lasted from 1993 to 2000 and produced two children, Sarah and Jackson. When White died of an undisclosed illness in 2024, Jackson took to Instagram to pay tribute to him, describing him as "an open book, a fighter, genuinely the funniest person" (via People). Sagal commented under his post, "Beautiful Jackson and beautiful Sarah, I will always be grateful to your dad for you! Thank you, Jack. Finally free."

Sagal has been married to director, producer, screenwriter, and actor Kurt Sutter since 2004. The two share one daughter, Esmé Louise. Since Sagal and Sutter also occasionally work together on shows such as "Sons of Anarchy," which could lead to friction and disagreements, they've gone to couples therapy to learn how to set some boundaries.

What has David Faustino been up to since "Married... With Children?" Born in 1974, Faustino has made a name for himself in the industry as an actor, voice artist, writer, producer, director, and rapper — you might recognize him under the names D' Lil and Lil Gweed. As far as his private life is concerned, Faustino was married to Andrea Faustino, who appeared in "Disturbing the Peace" and the series "Star-ving." He then wed Lindsay Bronson in 2015, and they lead a rather private life in Los Angeles with their daughter and son.

On May 20, 2025, Faustino was a guest on "MeSsy," a podcast hosted by his former co-star Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. He candidly discussed dealing with grief, relapsing in addiction, and mental struggles. He also revealed that he was only capable of confronting the pain of his mother Kay Freeman's passing from Alzheimer's disease once he stopped using alcohol and drugs. "She was a great mom," he said (via People). "It was tough when she left. I'd always been a bit of a, you know, a partier. I've always liked to party and have a good time. But when she died, I went over the f***ing deep end ... I was extremely close with her."

Christina Applegate's character on "Married... With Children," Kelly Bundy, was a dim-witted teenager with platinum blond hair who wore skimpy outfits and flashy accessories. In most of her scenes, the actor portrayed a seductress, a cheater, a dancer, or an aspiring model and TV personality who was mainly interested in beauty, passion, and fame. As Applegate's character wasn't a fan of witty banter or academic discussions and spent her time sneaking around with boys, her brother Bud (David Faustino) often mocked her lifestyle and intellectual limitations. "It was a very misogynistic show," Applegate's former co-star Katey Sagal noted on the podcast "MeSsy" in March of 2025 (via Fox News).

As a result, many fans projected the character onto Applegate and viewed her as an unintelligent sex symbol. In reality, the untold truth about Applegate is that she is an actor who is fully dedicated to her craft — even as a young star. "I was never on the receiving end of any kind of lasciviousness from anyone before [that show]," she told Vanity Fair in 2023. For many years, this issue caused the "Dead to Me" star severe distress, and she even developed unhealthy eating habits. "Playing that character kind of did things to me in my psyche that were no bueno — like anorexia," Applegate told Sagal on "MeSsy" (via Fox News). "Yeah, a pretty bad eating disorder started when I was doing that show that lasted for a really long time."

If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

In 2008, at age 36, Christina Applegate experienced her first major health scare: She was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram. Her own mother, actor Nancy Priddy, has been diagnosed twice over the decades. As a result, when the terrible news broke, Applegate underwent a preventive double mastectomy to prevent reoccurrence. That difficult period profoundly influenced Applegate's life, turning her into an influential voice for breast cancer awareness and research. She also founded Right Action for Women to help high-risk patients pay for essential screenings. "Not many people know that that happens to women my age or women in their 20s," said Applegate (via the National Breast Cancer Foundation). "This is my opportunity now to go out and fight as hard as I can for early detection ... When you get diagnosed with cancer, there's such a sense of loneliness, but we need to know as people going through this is that you're not alone."

Then, in 2011, after Applegate gave birth to her daughter Sadie Grace LeNoble, the actor made the decision to undergo an oophorectomy — in other words, she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. As of 2025, Applegate remains cancer-free and happily married to Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble. "He's been my rock through all of this," she told People in 2019. "He gave me something to really want to live for and something to smile about."

Alas, those were not the last of Christina Applegate's struggles. In June 2021, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable autoimmune disease that leads to balance, memory, and vision problems, along with fatigue and muscle weakness. That same year, Applegate shared the heartbreaking confession about her health issue to fans via X. "It's been a strange journey," the actor tweeted on August 10 of the same year. "But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It's been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going."

Liz Feldman, the executive producer of "Dead to Me," which starred Linda Cardellini and Applegate, noticed some of the latter's very first symptoms on the set of the dark comedy-thriller series. "I remember you losing your balance when we were shooting the pilot a couple of times," said Feldman on a 2024 episode of the podcast "MeSsy" (via Today). Despite the disease's sneaky progression, Applegate completed all three seasons of the show, which earned multiple awards and nominations. "This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," Applegate told Dax Shepard on the "Armchair Expert" in March 2024. "I hate it so much. I'm so mad about it." And this is why you're unlikely to see Applegate act again. Despite the constant pain, though, she has occasionally taken to Instagram to poke fun at her condition.

Ted McGinley played the handsome, lazy, and self-absorbed next-door neighbor, Jefferson D'Arcy, Marcy D'Arcy's second husband. Although that was one of his most memorable roles, McGinley has been active in the industry since 1980, with appearances in various films and series, such as "Happy Days," "The Love Boat," "Dynasty," "Revenge of the Nerds," "The West Wing," and "Pearl Harbor."

Unfortunately, he's been publicly slapped with the nicknames "Show Killer" and "Patron Saint of Jumping the Shark" because some of these enduring series coincidentally ended after he joined the cast (whether as a recurring character or a guest). While McGinley has tried to dismiss this reputation as a joke, it has done him a great disservice over the years. "At first, I thought it was kind of funny," he admitted to Variety in 2024. "And then, I realized that I started losing jobs."

McGinley also experienced first hand the wildfire that ravaged the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles in January of 2025. Not only were he and his wife, Gigi Rice, displaced, but their beloved dog, Fiddy, died before they could return to their home after the fires. The actor paid the latter tribute on Instagram at the time, lamenting, "How can something so tiny be so huge? Trying to fill the crater he left us ... Best friends ... just not forever."